Help shape your future waste and recycling collections
UPDATE: We'll be changing our waste collections in summer 2024 after our decision-making executive agreed to proceed with these changes in March 2023. For more about how these changes will affect you, please read our detailed guide on our main Wokingham Borough Council website.
The page below is no longer being updated and has been left online for archiving and informational purposes only.
Due to unprecedented financial pressures, new government legislation and our climate emergency goals, we will no longer be able to continue collections as they currently are.
Please read the information below and then give us your feedback by taking the survey at the bottom of the page.
We asked, you said
In October 2021, we asked you what matters most to you about our waste and recycling collections. Over 2,000 residents responded.
- 54 per cent said the environmental benefits are most important
- 98 per cent said it's important to reduce the amount of waste we produce
- 86 per cent are willing to recycle more
So, we know the environmental impact is your number one concern, that you think it's important that we all reduce the amount of waste we produce and that you are willing to recycle more. We need to put that at the heart of any changes we make to your waste collection service.
When we launched the survey above last year, we were working on a new waste strategy to shape our waste and recycling collections from 2026, when our current waste collection contract ends.
Because of the very serious financial situation we find ourselves in, we are now having to look at whether we can make any changes before then.
The estimates used below and in the survey on potential savings and the impact on our recycling rates come from modelling done for our 2026 waste strategy.
We are currently looking at the impacts of bringing those changes forward. Early work indicates that if changes are made sooner we could save £700,000 right away and then the higher amount once we start a new contract.
Why can't we continue with collections as they are now?
- The cost of providing basic services is increasing dramatically, with inflation at a 40-year high and energy bills rapidly increasing.
- The council has to make savings of more than £25 million over the next three years due to a continued reduction in government funding and rising costs, particularly supporting older people with care needs.
- Changes to waste collections could save up to £1.8 million per year, depending on which option we choose, if the changes are introduced as part of the new waste strategy in 2026.
- These savings would protect other essential council services.
- Continuing weekly collections as they are now would cost an additional £500,000 for next year, if 10 per cent inflation continues.
So, we need to reduce the amount of waste we produce as a borough and increase our recycling rate. We are also under significant financial pressures and need to reduce costs to protect essential services.
What changes can we make that would both improve the environmental impacts of our waste collection service and reduce the financial cost?
What are the changes?
The changes we could make are about how often our waste is collected, as well as the size and type of the containers. We could change from weekly collections for rubbish to either fortnightly or three-weekly. We could also change from weekly recycling collections to fortnightly.
Under both possible options, we would continue to have food waste collected weekly and subscription garden waste fortnightly.
- Option 1: Weekly food waste collections, with fortnightly general rubbish and recycling on alternate weeks
- Option 2: Weekly food waste collections, with fortnightly recycling and three-weekly general rubbish
For more on survey results, see the PDF document below